Indicted poll worker retains voting privileges?

Davidson election commission disappointed by DA's dealBy MICHAEL CASS • Staff Writer • April 23, 2008 A former Davidson County poll official who was accused of voting illegally has kept her voting privileges after striking a deal with District Attorney General Torry Johnson's office. The Davidson County Election Commission has written a letter to Johnson expressing its disappointment, said Lionel Barrett, senior adviser to the county election administrator. Vancey Voorhies was indicted on charges of voting twice in the Metro Nashville general election last August. She worked at the Stratford High School voting precinct in East Nashville. She was accused of voting under her own name during early voting, then voting under someone else's name on the day of the election. Voorhies was indicted on two felony counts and one misdemeanor count. Barrett said Voorhies was placed on pre-trial diversion and will be able to get her criminal record expunged if she "refrains from any further criminal conduct" through mid-July. She'll be able to vote in the next Metro election in August. "She could vote today," Barrett said. "There is no loss of civil liberties of any kind." Barrett said the election commission "would have preferred a different outcome" but emphasizes its respect for Johnson and his independence as a prosecutor in the letter, which was signed by all five commissioners and could be mailed as early as today. Johnson's spokeswoman, Susan Niland, and Voorhies' attorney, Richard McGee, did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment today.